Yellow Brick Road

ARTICLES ABOUT YELLOW BRICK ROAD BY DATE - PAGE 2

Artist Reynaldo Rodriguez is coming to the Kraft Artabounds Studio at the Chicago Children's Museum to show youngsters examples of traditional Puerto Rican masks. Some are made out of coconut shells, others out of papier-mache, but all of them have a menacing expression. They are worn at carnival time in the hopes of scaring away evil spirits. Kids can make their own version of these masks by using aluminum foil, which they mold over their faces. If little ones are reluctant, parents can help out by pressing the silver paper over their own faces to shape the mask.

Here's a sneak peek at new entertainment: BOOKS. In "The Power of Two" by H.B. Gilmour and Randi Reisfeld, Camryn and Alex meet by accident and notice that despite their very different personalities, they look identical. Soon the girls combine their secret powers to battle evil. The book, the first in the T Witches series, is in stores now. CDs. Oldies by Madonna and REM share disc space with newer tracks by the Backstreet Boys and Weezer on "MTV: 20 Years of Pop Music," out Tuesday.

The success of the original "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" book was so overwhelming that every time Baum tried to put an end to the 14 sequels that followed it, legions of children would write him feverish letters that would drive him back to his writing desk. Trapped on a pedestal of admiration, Baum became the Wizard incarnate: Wanting very much to do other things but too good--natured (and sometimes too broke) to turn away his fans. Baum wrote "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" while living in Chicago at 1667 N. Humboldt Blvd.

Those Ivy League social scientists who have propounded the theory that community is dying in post-industrial America obviously have not convinced Mayor Richard M. Daley's staff of summer event coordinators. As the sun sets Tuesday and for the next four Tuesdays, the City of Summer Festivals will be rising yet again, this time for an under-the-stars communal gathering of classic-film gazers. Harking back to an era when movies in many small towns were projected onto huge sheets in public squares, Chicago--a city fast becoming the festival mecca of the Midwest--is playing host to a weekly series of classic American films shown in the great outdoors.

Bob Baum's first memory of "The Wizard of Oz" -- watching the film in a theater with his parents -- probably strikes a chord with a lot of people. But there's something special about his recollection. "I was probably 3 or 4 years old, just old enough to catch a few names and a few lines," he says. "I remember the credits rolling, and seeing the name `L. Frank Baum' on the screen. And my dad leaned over and said, `That's your great-grandfather.' " For a kid, that's almost like learning that your Uncle Ernie is really Santa Claus.

Don your warmest duds and head for downtown Downers Grove and "Oz on Ice," an ice sculpture festival designed for the whole family on Friday and Saturday. At the Metra station, Main Street and Warren Avenue, visitors can check out huge ice images featuring "Wizard of Oz" movie characters Dorothy and her pals, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow, all frozen in time on the yellow brick road. Other individual ice sculptures will be on display at the Downers Grove Museum, 831 Maple Ave., and sprinkled along Main Street, where families can meet strolling Oz characters and pop into retail shop open houses for refreshments.

With ballrooms transformed into the Emerald City and Munchkinland, the 1999 Children's Ball stands out as one of the most resplendent galas in recent memory. The brainchild of co-chairs Karen Ksander Ettelson and Valerie Kahn, the "Wizard of Oz"-themed evening at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers Saturday night was a celebration of the Medical Research Institute Council's year-long campaign to raise money for Children's Memorial Medical Center. Auntie Em guided the 1,300 black-tie guests into Munchkinland, whose doorway was framed with a replica of Dorothy's house.

Forget your Y2K worries for the nonce and consider one of life's truly momentous events. "The Wizard of Oz" returns to movie theaters Friday in yet another repackaging of the 1939 MGM film classic; this time it's re-mastered in glorious digital sound. We'll be seeing Miss Gulch again, that crusty sourpuss for the ages, she of the demented cackle and caustic sneer. (Hey, is that really her face, or is Craftsman missing a load of rusty hatchets? Ha! Ha!) Aye, the Wicked Witch is back, and with her comes all the catty gossip about rogue Munchkins ogling Judy Garland and shooting dice under the sets.

Roger Baum and Michael Genovese agree on one thing -- Toto was just a dog. Beyond that, "The Wizard of Oz" is either the greatest children's novel ever written or a story about the collapse of Populism in the late 1800s. Baum, the great-grandson of "Oz" author L. Frank Baum, will be in Chesterton, Ind., this weekend for the 17th annual Wizard of Oz festival. His views are clear. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written solely to pleasure children of today," Baum said, quoting from the introduction to the book written 98 years ago. But Genovese, a political science professor at Loyola Marymount University, says Oz has a political dimension beyond the yellow brick road.

The cortege, moving at the legal limit of 65 m.p.h., rolled slowly out of Turn 4 and toward the checkered flag. In the lead, as it had been through six of the previous nine laps, was the pace car. Behind it, meandering toward his second victory in a Brickyard 400, was Jeff Gordon. Then came Mark Martin and Bobby Labonte. Littered behind them were the rest of the field, pieces of cars and enough unsightly debris to fill a vacant lot. This is how the Winston Cup's visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ended Saturday, and somehow it was only appropriate that the caution flag was out there flying.